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GIANTS. 553
had to pasture the flock, but the goodwife having baked a stone
in his bread, Soini was in such a rage that he called bears and
wolves to aid him, who tore the woman s legs and worried the
flock. The Esthonians also tell of a giant s son (Kallewepoeg),
who furrowed up grassy lands wibh a wooden plough, and not a
blade has grown on them since (see Suppl.). This trickiness of
the Finnish giants is a contrast to the rough but honest ways
of the Grerman and Scandinavian.
Above all, there is no clear line to be drawn between giants
and the wild hairy woodsprites dealt with in pp. 478-486. In the
woods of the Bingenheim Mark are seen the stone seats of the
wild folk (conf. p. 432) who once lived there, and the print of
their hands on the stones (Deut. sag. no. 166). In the vale of
Gastein, says Muchar, p. 137, wild men have lived within the
memory of man, but the breed has died out since ; one of them
declared he had seen the forest of Sallesen near Mt. Stubner-
nine times : he could
kogel get mair (die out and revive again)
mind when the Bocksteinkogl was no bigger than a kranawetvogl
(crossbill ?), or the mighty Schareck than a twopenny roll. Their
strength was gigantic : to hurl a ploughshare the whole breadth
of the valley was an easy throw for them. One of these men
leant his staff against the head farmer s house, and the whole
house shook. Their dwelling was an inaccessible cavern on the
left bank of the Ache, at the entrance to the Klamm ; outside
the cave stood some appletrees, and with the apples they would
pelt the passers-by in fun ; remains of their household stuff are
still to be seen. To the inhabitants of the valley they were
rather friendly than otherwise, and often put a quantity of butter
and milk before their house-doors. This last feature is more of a
piece with the habits of dwarfs and elves than of giants.
Just as the elves found the spread of agriculture and the clear
ing of their forests an abomination, which compelled them to
move out ; so the giants regard the woods as their own property,
in which they are by no means disposed to let men do as they
please. A peasant s son had no sooner begun to cut down a
bushy pinetree, than a great stout trold made his appearance
with the threat : dare to cut in my wood, and I ll strike thee
dead (Asbiornsen s Moe, no. 6) ; the Danish folk-song of Eline
af Yillenskov is founded on this, D.V. 1, 175. And no less do